Driver slams sentence handed to boozed up Bromsgrove councillor Peter Whittaker who crashed his cars

Jan 15 2012 by Adam Aspinall, Sunday Mercury

A DRIVER has slammed the sentence handed to a Midland licensing boss who destroyed his two cars when he ploughed into them after boozing.

Tory councillor Peter Whittaker, 59, was banned from driving for 12 months and fined £1,100 after pleading guilty to failing to provide a breath test to police after a three-car smash in Feckenham, near Redditch, Worcestershire on November 20.

The Bromsgrove District councillor for Tardebigge, will have his driving ban reduced by three months if he completes an alcohol awareness course by August.

And he can still keep his public office.

Mike Abu-Zalaf, 31, who lost two cars in the carnage, said he was outraged that the councillor had ‘got off so lightly’.

He said: “I am absolutely livid, it is an absolute disgrace.

“When you consider he could have his sentence reduced and how much money he has been forced to pay, it is actually me who is out of pocket, not him.

“I cannot believe the legal system in this country. When you add up the money I have had to pay for two cars after my insurance claim. I have had to pay over £3,000 of my own money just to sort this mess out.

“How can it be that I am the victim here and yet it feels like I am the one being punished?”

Mr Whittaker wrote off his own Volvo estate car in the crash last month but also destroyed Mr Abu-Zalaf’s Toyota Rav 4 and his brother’s Fiat.

Mr Abu-Zalaf further told how he had to physically restrain Mr Whittaker from running away from the scene.